Bullets and Blades

Ichigo slowly opened his eyes. It hurt like hell and he could only open them into a slit, but they were wide enough for him to see Shiro wrapping his ribs with a distracted look on his face. His lips felt swollen and the inside of his mouth was coated with dried blood, but he made the effort to speak.

"Shi…wha?"

Shiro met his squinty gaze, but said nothing and continued to doctor his wounds. Ichigo's ribs weren't broken, but there was the possibility of a fracture so Shiro had decided to wrap them just to be safe. His face was miraculously unbroken, but would remain swollen and sensitive for some time. He almost definitely had a concussion and his lungs burned when he breathed.

"Orange! Whas wrong, Orange?"

It hurt, the image of unoiled cogs on a machine being forced to turn came to mind, to turn his head but Ichigo made the effort to be able to look at his little boy. He didn't have the strength to hold a complete conversation, so he supposed he'd have to save his correction of 'Orange' for later.

"Hey…Naka…"

It took a moment, his brain being a bit addled from the repeated hard slaps to the face, but Ichigo noticed something about his son's appearance that filled him with horror.

"Bath? Bath?"

Shiro glanced at Mayonaka and then back at his younger twin.

"He's in the house, so I didn't see any urgency, Ichi. He's fine."

Ichigo tried to frown, but his face was too swollen. Even so, the evil glint in the slits of his brown eyes got his point across. Shiro rolled his eyes at his brother, but relented. Ichi may be vulnerable now, but when he got better…

"Come on, Naka, bath time."

Mayonaka stubbornly poked out his bottom lip, but obediently followed after his uncle. Ichigo released a painful sigh and took the moment of silence to wonder how the hell he'd gotten there. Had Shiro looked for him and found him? He knew the Espada didn't bring him there, so who was it? Even that little bit of thinking was tiring him out. He snuggled deeper into the sofa and took a deep breath…and that's when he noticed it. That scent, it was still on his body even with all of the rain and wind outside, so he must have been carrying him…Grimmjow had saved him and brought him home. In his delirium, Ichigo couldn't help but try to smile as he fell asleep.

---

Grimmjow slammed his fist into the side of Kaien's head. The oldest Kurosaki had made the same mistake that everyone else did when getting into a fight with the Sexta. They'd assume that just because he was strong, that he was slow. It got Grimmjow's blood going every time he saw that 'Oh, shit!' look on his opponents' faces. One punch stunned him and Grimmjow wasn't surprised. As long as he'd known Kaien, he'd been a weapons guy, not a brawling one. It also drove home how serious the guy was about Ichi that he'd put down his weapon in order to stand his ground on the issue. Still, the Sexta was never a fan of authority figures and if he wanted to see the berry, then he would see him. Besides, he would need to warn him about Aizen's current meddling; if Ichigo was taken, the Vizards would be at a disadvantage and easily manipulated for the sake of their leader. Not only that, but Grimmjow and Abirama needed a more secure place to lie down and more power backing them in this war. If he could win Ichigo over, then all would be right with the world.

Grimmjow shook himself out of his thoughts just in time to watch Kaien stumble over his own feet and fall onto the wet pavement. Abirama walked over and stared down at him. His black hair was heavy with water, but instead of making him look ridiculous, it added to his appeal. Grimmjow snorted softly at the thought.

"He didn't last all." He said. "It would be comical if his lack of skill in hand to hand fighting couldn't get him killed someday."

Grimmjow just had to chuckle at that.

"Well, I don't know about you, Abi, but I don't care whether he's dead or alive. Let's go up and see the orange head while the bastard is still out."

The blue haired man began walking towards the apartment building entrance and smiled when he heard his brother follow behind him without hesitation. Ichigo's apartment turned out to be exactly where it had always been. When they walked inside, Grimmjow saw that Ichigo was in a deep restless sleep and by the look of him, it was a good thing. He turned his head to look around and one thing in particular stopped him in his tracks. A little boy sat at the kitchen table, feet swinging in joy as he ate peeled kiwi slices and drank from a juice cup. He had the kind of pink plump lips most babies have, a face that was a mix of soft and straight lines, a cute little nose, and brown eyes and orange hair. The kid kind of looked familiar, but Grimmjow put that off as the boy looking like Ichigo…except the kid didn't really look exactly like the berry. That could just be because of his mother, but…the orange hair was off, more a dull burnt orange than the vibrant personification of orange that was Ichigo's hair, and the brown eyes were just regular, none of deep glossy depth like the berry's.

"Huh." The Sexta mused to himself as he stared at the toddler. "So that's the kid. He at least has Ichigo's amber skin."

"What?" Shiro asked as he came out of a back room and into the living room. "You don't think he looks like him otherwise?"

Shiro was giving him this piercing, glowing stare that made him a bit uncomfortable. He wanted to punch him the face to make him stop looking at him. His eyebrow's furrowed in slight confusion.

"Not…really." He replied slowly. "When do you think he's gonna wake up."

Shiro sighed as he took his jacket off of the coat hanger by the door.

"By this afternoon, no later than nightfall. You can stay here and wait or come back. Kaien's not gonna cause trouble around Ichigo and Mayonaka."

Grimmjow glanced at the boy again, who was staring unerringly straight into his cerulean orbs. It was almost freaky.

"Mayonaka." He said as Shiro opened the apartment door. "That means 'midnight'." He shook his head. "I'm just not seeing it."

"Guess not." Shiro said as he walked out of the door. "But I hope you do someday."

And then he left to drag his older brother back into his apartment.